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Non-auditioned Choirs – and Their Conductors – Are at the Heart of Community Singing

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By Pat Guth

For the first 40 years of my musical career, I spent a lot of time dealing with “imposter syndrome” – that nagging feeling when you doubt your accomplishments and have a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a “fraud.” Maybe you’ve been there, too. It’s not uncommon among artists of all kinds.

I launched what should have been viewed as a successful career after earning my degree from a very prestigious conservatory-type music college, but never quite felt like I measured up. After all, some of my classmates were singing opera. Others led award-winning ensembles, while others were building incredible programs in schools or churches. I taught elementary classroom music until I became pregnant with my first child then quit. I continued in my field by teaching private lessons and taking underpaid jobs at area churches where they loved my credentials but didn’t really want to pay what I was worth.

That likely contributed to my poor self-esteem but it’s how I kept my hand in choral music while raising a family. It worked for me. Nevertheless, I often found myself defending the fact that I wasn’t working full-time in my chosen profession. I started to feel that maybe I wasn’t as “serious” about my passion as they were. (Spoiler alert: I was!)

Finally, when I was 52 and my youngest was a senior in high school, I decided to travel on a new musical journey. I had always wanted to conduct a secular community choir but had hesitated to form a new one because there were already so many top-notch ensembles located near my suburban Philadelphia home.

If I started yet another auditioned chorus for experienced, educated singers, would mine measure up? Would I spend the next several years trying to catch up to those long-established ensembles? How would I get my name out there and who would respond? After all, I was a relative unknown, despite my decades of experience in choral music.

I thought about this for months and finally decided that I would be a renegade amongst (most of) my peers and attempt to form a non-auditioned choir instead, perhaps one just for women as there was a definite lack of women’s choirs in my area. We would welcome anyone: Those who studied voice. Those who hadn’t sung since middle school or high school. Those who – gasp! – had never sung in a choral ensemble of any kind. That meant taking the good with the bad. The pitch perfect with the pitch-challenged.

So on a hot July day I took a deep breath, reviewed my options, wrote a press release (and was fortunate that the local paper was intrigued enough to write a story about this undertaking), and by the time we had our initial “meet-and-greet” in late August, I welcomed 81 women ages 20-something to 80-ish to my new choral ensemble. Oh happy day! We were already a success!

Still Dealing with That Feeling

Honestly, this project took off pretty quickly. To kick-off with 80 singers was nothing short of amazing. And we made a pretty decent sound from the start, considering that only about half the choir could read music and scores of our singers had NEVER been part of a musical ensemble of any sort.

Yes, we had a handful of individuals who were musically-challenged and another handful that were pretty advanced, but most landed somewhere in the middle and – for the most part – we made a pleasant sound. We spent a lot of time banging out notes but we tackled some not-so-easy harmonies and pulled off a first semester that was – for me and my singers – one for the record books.

Was it perfect? Far from it. But there was something special about it that I couldn’t exactly put my finger on until a little further into the project. Was it joy perhaps? Satisfaction? Elation? Maybe all those smiles meant something. And how about the fact that everyone started arriving 15 minutes early and staying 15 minutes late just so they could spend time chatting with their fellow singers?

Still, I had that nagging thought in the back of my mind that I was doing something less than what I was worth. I still had a feeling that perhaps I wasn’t living up to my abilities by choosing to start a non-auditioned choir rather than assemble a group of experienced singers.

But the happy voices, the smiling faces, and the friendships that were forming started to convince me otherwise.

Singing and Friendship Go Hand-in-Hand

Sadly, choirs – even community choirs – can be a place where unnecessary competition between singers can easily damage one’s love of singing. My husband (also a singer) and I had joined a few auditioned choirs in our younger years and were saddened by the atmosphere that surrounded us. The tension was palpable. We didn’t need more stress in our lives so we moved on.

Instead, what I believe we had created with this burgeoning ensemble of ours was a group of women who loved to sing but also loved each other. Sounds sappy, right? But that’s what it was. It was a joy to watch from the podium as the relationships between singers became solid and as members began to rely on each other not only for the next note but to get them through life’s challenges as well. And no one cared if the person in the chair beside them was a better singer.

It was exciting to see it unfold. I watched contentedly as lunch dates were made, parties were organized, play dates were arranged, and hands were held. I was asked if we could form a “Sunshine Committee” and collect a few dollars from each member so that we could offer support through cards and gifts. I observed joyously as my singing group become a true community.

And I was right in the thick of it . . . and still am! I’ve always been the social type, but my “girlfriends” tended to be the mothers of my children’s friends. Now I had finally discovered the joy of being social with musical friends who weren’t necessarily professionals but who simply loved to sing.

So, I started initiating parties, banquets, and outings. Not everyone joined in, but most did. We stayed together through the summers by going out to dinner, bowling, enjoying picnics, laughing about our attempts to escape from those popular mystery rooms. Before long, this choir – which had grown quickly to nearly 100 singers – was a central part of my life and I was blessed to be a central part of their lives as well.

Before you could blink, we started traveling together. Our first performance tour happened during the summer after our second year together. Fifty-seven adventurers (not all singers) headed to Northern Italy to sing in some of the most incredible venues. Two years later, we toured Hungary and Austria, and two years after that, our love of singing and travel took us to Finland, Estonia, and Sweden. Sadly, COVID-19 stole our trip to Greece but we’ll get there. Still, these trips offered not only stellar musical highs but also more together time. More bonding. More memories that will never be forgotten. Never. Truly, some of the best days of my life were spent traveling with these women.

It was all so awesome that sometimes I wondered if I could keep the magic alive. And did all of this mean I had finally “made it” in the world of choral music?

Maybe. I still wasn’t sure. But I also was pretty sure that it didn’t matter to me any longer. 

The Conductor MUST Be Part of the Community

What I DID know, however, was that I had found the key to success in the community choir realm.

As I mentioned previously, during our almost 40 years of marriage, my husband and I had checked out several community choirs, usually intrigued by their programs. (“Ooh, I’d love to sing Elijah again!”) Some were auditioned ensembles and others were open to all. But we discovered one thing that many of these choruses had in common: a conductor that stayed on the fringes.

For example, whenever a social event was scheduled for one of these groups (and such events were rare), the conductor wasn’t there or chose only to make a brief appearance. He/she gladly accepted pats on the back and hearty handshakes but did little else to become a part of the ensemble. I always got the idea that the maestro/maestra thought that spending too much time with the singers wasn’t in their best interest and was maybe even below them. Maybe they worried that if they became too friendly their singers would lose respect for them as a leader. They were afraid to be “one of the gang.”

That’s too bad. I think the opposite is true. To make your community chorus a true community, you – the conductor – MUST lead the way. For us, it started with me setting up twice-a-year parties, one in January to celebrate a successful holiday season and one in June to recap the joys of our spring concerts. Then we scheduled dinners after concerts, picnics at local parks during the off-season, and just about anything else we knew our members would enjoy, like going to sing-alongs at the local movie theater.

Why? The reasons are simple. We all crave friendship, even the shyest of us, and friendship with someone who shares music and sings with you is extra special. In addition – and perhaps most importantly – for many of our singers who live alone – either because they’re single, divorced, or widowed – we were the only social outlet they had. We were that one thing that helped them avoid loneliness and make it through the week. We were an essential business, as the term goes.

Happily, because I think we all recognized this pretty early on, we quickly became a support system and I was proud and humbled to be at the helm of this musical ship. Furthermore, I knew it was important that I remain deeply involved.

Besides, it was just as much a blessing for me as it was for my 90+ singers. I can’t tell you the number of times these women have told me that joining choir was the best decision they’ve made in a long time and then proceeded to tell me a story about how a fellow singer stepped in to help them. One older women confided in me that the choir had literally saved her life after she plunged into a deep depression upon losing two close family members in a short amount of time.

What do you say to that? Thank you? I’m so happy for you? No. You just smile and touch your heart with your hand, unable to speak.

So Am I There Yet?

In the eight years we’ve been together, “my beautiful ladies” – as I refer to them – have traveled 25,000 miles (round trip) to awesome destinations, have been invited to sing at The White House twice, learned approximately 200 pieces of music, presented nearly 100 concerts, and are waiting to find out if the Thanksgiving Day Parade for which they’ve been chosen to participate will be a go during this crazy year.

In the meantime, we’re holding virtual “Learn to Read Music” lessons for our non-readers, playing Name That Tune or trivia on Zoom every Wednesday, inviting other professionals to present webinars, and holding out hope that we’ll be together again sooner rather than later. The friendships keep us steady.

We’ve sung for everyone from Dr. Ben Carson in the East Room of the “People’s House” to a group of young moms living in a facility for recovering drug addicts and alcoholics. We shared the stage with the rock band Foreigner. (That was pretty exciting for this 70s girl!) Some concerts were flawless. Others had a few glitches. But each was a gift to us and – I hope – to the people who listened to our music.

So, am I still an imposter? Have I “made it” in the world of choral music?

Well, if you were to listen to those in charge of the festivals and conferences to which I consistently send DVDs of my beautiful ladies in consideration for performing at those events, I haven’t. Sadly, they can’t see the elation on the faces of my choir when they sing. They only hear those two first sopranos who are a little flat or that cut off that wasn’t quite perfect.

While I’m a little disappointed every time I get a “sorry, you haven’t been chosen” letter, I’m not surprised. Choral elitism is alive and well, which is too bad. Those who make the selections don’t know what they’re missing by turning away this delightful but slightly flawed ensemble. We would make their audiences clap for joy. We’ve done it many times.

And as for me, I’m now positive that I’ve “made it”, simply because I’m tremendously satisfied and completely overjoyed about what I’m doing these days. And while I might never be up there in the ranks of those who lead at a major university or wave their arms in front of a symphony chorus. I know that what I do is important and that we’ve created a community that makes a difference. And it shows in the faces of each and every one of my wonderful singers.

I’ll tell you how I know this to be true.

In 2018, when our tour choir members were in Tallinn, Estonia, we had the pleasure of being hosted by a magnificent local women’s ensemble. Their technique was flawless and they sounded like heaven. After our joint concert, one of my singers approached one of theirs to express how awed she was by this superb ensemble. “You sing like angels. Thank you!” my singer said, her voice filled with a good deal of emotion.

And the other singer, with tears in her eyes, responded, “Yes, but you sing with joy!”

Pat Guth is the founder and director of the Bucks County Women’s Chorus (Pennsylvania) and a proud alumna of Westminster Choir College. She recently retired after 42 years in church music ministry and devotes much of her time to keeping her community choir afloat, especially during this difficult time. Pat enjoys helping others to nurture non-auditioned ensembles and also works as a freelance writer and editor for websites and print publications.

Developing Voices: Don’t Be a Hummer, Be an Audiator

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By Lynn Swanson

This post launches a new Tuesday ChoralNet blog entitled Developing Voices, a team effort by Lynn Swanson, Jamea Sale, Jennifer Berroth, and Melissa Shallberg. The blog is meant to offer insight gained from research and experience on how voices should develop in a healthy manner for the whole of our lives. You may access previous posts of the Developing Voices blog at developingvoices.blog.

We have established the Webb-Mitchell Centre for Choral Studies in Zhuhai, China, as a “No-Humming Zone.” Our Chinese character:

Rather than hum, we audiate. Audiation is a cognitive learning process by which the brain receives input, digests it, then defines it. In other words, one internalizes the pitch before one produces the pitch. Retention and production of the pitch must take place in the head before it can be accurately produced via the mouth.

There are other benefits to audiating:

  • Listening to an entire phrase with an engaged brain organizes sequences and patterns so they may be recalled with greater precision.
  • It decreases intonation issues. If you can hear it in your head, you can sing it correctly. As my colleague Dr. William Baker of the Choral Foundation always says: “Choirs that sing in tune, don’t hum the pitch!”
  • Focus is maintained. Humming along to the piano or while others are singing interrupts the audiation and production process of others. It also contributes to a noisy learning atmosphere encouraging others to hum along.
  • Sight-reading and tonal memory aptitude improves. Singing too quickly can bring about confusion with other patterns already stored in the brain. Hearing then thinking about the current intervals and rhythm will bring about more success with the initial attempt.
  • Avoids adding noise to the rehearsal room. Noisy rooms produce the Lombard Effect which has a negative impact on the singers via the instructor’s compensation for this situation. Any noise levels that are increased during instruction causes the instructor to increase phonetic fundamental frequencies, sound intensity, volume, and overuse of articulators.  This can cause vocal fatigue and produce other negative results.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lombard_effect 

Increase your musical aptitude by becoming a disciplined audiator. The more you audiate the more others will audiate. And the more pleasant our world will be.

Lynn Swanson is a sought-after conductor, vocal pedagogue, clinician, and organist. She holds the Bachelor of Music in Organ Performance from Shorter University in Rome, Georgia, and the Master of Music Education in Choral Pedagogy from the University of Kansas in Lawrence. She presently serves as Assistant Director of the Zhuhai Children’s Choir in Zhuhai, China. Lynn directs eight ensembles under the Webb-Mitchell Centre for Choral Studies in cooperation with the British Schools Foundation. Prior to her move to China, Lynn served as Executive Associate Music Director with the William Baker Choral Foundation leading numerous masterwork and a cappella ensembles. Maintaining her position as the Director of the Institute of Healthy Singing she continues to lead workshops centered around the “science behind the voice.” Upon her return to the United States Ms. Swanson will become director of the Choral Foundation’s first fully professional ensemble, The Lynn Swanson Chorale.

Helping Small Amateur Choirs to Survive and Flourish

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A version of this post first appeared on the OUPblog on April 21, 2017, and is reprinted with permission of Oxford University Press.

Choral singing has been, for some 150 years, one of the mainstays of local music-making and entertainment in the rural regions of Britain. As Director of Music at the University of Plymouth and musical director of several singing and orchestral ensembles in Devon and Cornwall, I keep an eye on the activities of the region’s numerous choral societies – and some rank among the best in the UK.

Many towns with a population of just 2,500 boast their own singing group, with a membership of anywhere between 14 and 50 members. The larger towns and cities in the South West such as Plymouth, Truro, and Exeter accommodate regional choirs of up to 150 as well as specialist chamber groups performing a wonderfully diverse repertoire.

However, many of the smaller outlying choral societies struggle to survive. On several occasions over the past 30 years, I have been invited in as a troubleshooter to ‘save’ or at least revitalize such groups. Some of the issues they faced included ageing choruses with dwindling membership and audience, unsuitable repertoire, a recently retired musical director, poor finances, weak administrative infrastructure, and inadequate publicity. These factors have often combined to generate a lack of motivation in members and communities.

Encourage, cajole, and convince to form your committee

Establishing a strong committee is another must. Identify those members of the choir who can offer skills in basic financial management, record-keeping, communication, and organization. Encourage, cajole and convince them to commit their time to the choir for a year.

Promoting your concert

As for promoting concerts, do not overlook the standard tools of well-written press releases to the local and regional media, posters, banners, announcements on regional radio and television, listings on what’s on websites and social media. However, face-to-face selling is also an effective way to generate ticket sales. Having a choir website is essential, and Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram can all play a valuable role in raising the profile of your choir and its concerts.

Sending publicity to a regularly updated and targeted database is also important. I would suggest that handing out forms at concerts inviting people to add their names to the mailing list is a good start. Feedback is valuable: include a questionnaire asking for responses on the various aspects of their experience of the evening – what music did they most enjoy? how did they like the venue? did they make use of the town’s facilities (pubs, cafes and shops)? This kind of information can often be useful for funding applications.

Repertoire, soloists, and orchestral players

How can you reactivate a choir musically? Choose repertoire for the next performance that is well within its capabilities and invite everyone involved to a big party afterwards! The choir will sing well and with confidence; the audience, however small, will respond positively. Ensure the concert is reviewed in the local press. It is important that the singers receive praise for a good performance so celebrate your success.

I strongly believe that the very best players and soloists should be contracted. This raises the standard of music making and motivates the choir to work hard at its performance and at selling tickets. It is not always necessary to attempt Elgar and Verdi with a 40 to 50-piece orchestra when there is so much early and classical music which is equally uplifting and fulfilling. Why not employ just 20 top-quality orchestral players? The success of a higher calibre performance will stimulate an enthusiasm to sustain this quality and might motivate the members to address fundraising.

One final note to conductors

So much can ride on the personality and music interests of the conductor and his or her connections in the local, regional, and national music scene. Being well prepared for rehearsals and concerts should go without saying — and if you are new to the job these are essential. It helps to have a sense of fun. I also always make a point of being secure on translations of foreign texts before rehearsals begin.

 

Simon Ible is Director of Music of Peninsula Arts, Plymouth University and Artistic Director and Conductor of Peninsula Arts Sinfonietta and Peninsula Arts Singers as well as Co-director of Peninsula Arts Contemporary Music Festival. He is also the Musical Director of the University of Plymouth Choral Society.

Simon studied conducting in Germany with Klaus Donath and in London with Sir Colin Davis. Before joining Plymouth University he spent 20 years conducting in Bath where he was Artistic Director and Resident Conductor of Bath City Orchestra. Simon has been Artistic Director and Conductor of the Ten Tors Orchestra since 1998 and works with a wide range of regional ensembles across the South West of England.

Singing Together to Honor MLK

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America Sings Together on Martin Luther King Day

At 11:00 AM in your local time on Martin Luther King Day (Monday, January 16, 2017), we invite you, your families, your church groups, and your school choirs to stop and sing “Amazing Grace” with the people around you.  The 4 verses of John Newton’s longer poem that we will all sing are printed below.  The intent of this nationwide effort is to honor Dr. King’s legacy and to spread a sense of community in the Americas.

Please spread the word to your friends, to your church, to your choir members, and through Social Media. We want to have the whole nation singing together at that time!

Please visit and share the link for this event on Facebook, which can be found at:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1620391364933306/

Consider joining Singing for a New World: Raising Voices in the Americas, our larger effort to promote more singing in our society!  Visit

https://www.facebook.com/groups/359629271044884/ to learn more.

Amazing Grace (John Newton)

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found;
Was blind, but now I see.

’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’d first begun.

_______________

For more information about the Singing for a New World initiative, please email John Nix: 

Singing for a New World

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At the most recent NATS conference there was a featured concert led by Met Opera star Renée Fleming. She often ends concerts with a sing-a-long number, and at this concert she led the audience of singing teachers in “I Could Have Danced All Night.” Then she spoke to the crowd about the most recent shooting incident in our nation, and how perhaps we needed to sing “Let There Be Peace on Earth” together. It was very moving. After the concert I immediately took to Facebook, declaring, “People who sing together don’t shoot each other.”

We know how important singing can be in the lives of those we teach. Whether they are aspiring performers, established professionals, or just enthusiastic amateurs, all of our students and choir members find challenges, opportunities for fulfillment, and moments of great joy in the act of singing.

Our culture has become less and less vocal: texting and e-mail are many individuals’ standard mode of communication. Even in traditional musical settings, people are less participatory as singers; there seems to be a division between those who perform and those who act as spectators to the performance. We Americans need to sing together more.

There are health, social, and spiritual benefits to singing. For example, Stephen Clift in the U.K. has been studying the use of singing classes to help COPD patients increase their lung function. Betty Bailey and Jane Davidson studied a choir in Montreal made up of homeless men. The men regarded the choir as the most meaningful thing in their lives. Closer to home, my friend Kittie Verdolini is organizing a choir in Pittsburgh comprised of prison inmates and police officers, all led by the music director of one of Pittsburgh’s largest African American churches. You may know of examples in your towns where singing is used to raise well-being and a sense of community in otherwise challenged populations. On a social level, who can forget the uniting power that singing had for U.S. civil rights advocates in the 1960’s, who sang spirituals as they marched for social change in the streets? And the healing power of communal singing as a spiritual force was clearly evident as President Obama led the singing of those gathered after the shootings at Emmanuel Church in Charleston. We sing to heal ourselves, to heal each other, and to teach our children how to pull together in times of great trouble.

In Wales, Ireland, and Iceland, people sing in choruses, in pubs, in churches, as they work, at soccer matches, you name it. My Kenyan and Nigerian friends tell me in Africa, the notion of “I don’t sing” or “I can’t sing” is completely foreign. Everyone can and everyone does sing. Our children sing songs to themselves as they play, but once they become adults, many of them stop singing – or worse, they have been told they can’t sing. Why can’t singing regain its prominence in our culture, and be a factor in creating healthier, more socially connected, more understanding, and hopefully less violent communities?

Below is a plan to get people all over the Americas singing more. The plan would commence in the U.S with the assistance of organizations such as NATS, MENC, ACDA, NYSTA, AGO, NPM, VASTA, Opera America, and Chorus America, but through sister organizations in other countries we could share the model throughout the Western Hemisphere. Calling upon individual efforts by directors like you, student and professional solo vocal performers, church leaders, and popular singers in jazz, folk, gospel, and rock, I propose we restructure traditional concert models to include inviting those attending performances to sing with those performing. At concerts, flash mobs, World Voice Day events, as well as informal sing-a-longs at sporting events, community celebrations, and religious gatherings, consider including audience participation numbers as a planned portion of the performance.

As vocal music educators, we have a vested interest in fostering more singing in society. Our very livelihood depends on having engaged audiences and an influx of new singers to our studios, choirs, and classrooms. And it’s the right thing to do.

So how do we start?  Here are some suggestions to get you started, and you may have several ideas of your own. That’s wonderful. Share them with me at , as I will be developing a website and a set of resource materials to help others. You can also visit our Facebook group Singing for a New World.

America needs to sing more. Singing together elevates us to that bessre Welt we all want for ourselves, for those we love, and for those we teach. Who is better positioned to lead this effort than us?

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Start simple: have your choirs and the solo performers you teach program participatory songs at the ends of concerts. Invite the audience to sing along. Print the words in the program.

Begin community meetings you are involved in with a song – like the Rotary Clubs typically do.

Start a Beer Choir in your favorite pub

Promote vocal music in schools in your community

Take your choirs to retirement centers, hospitals, nursing homes, or veteran’s groups. Share the love of music with our most “experienced” listeners.

Take your choirs to public places flash mob style, and spontaneously start songs at the same time all over a campus or town.

When your choir is going to a restaurant together, ask the host or hostess if you can help out with any birthday singing, and get the whole restaurant to join in.

MORE LONG-TERM AND BROADER IDEAS:

Encourage sing-a-longs of popular songs of various genres at ballgames, other sporting events

Singing at community celebrations, like July 4 picnics

Leverage social media, webcasts to spread the word

Engage popular artists to do sing-a-longs at concerts – classical, country, folk, popular

Opera companies and theaters could have concerts which would include singing along on popular choruses, or use curtain calls to invite audience members to sing (“Cast Karaoke”)

___________________

{lastName  John Nix () is Associate Professor of Voice and Vocal Pedagogy at the University of Texas at San Antonio and the founding director of the UTSA Vocal Arts Laboratory.

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